Foveated Observation of Shape and Motion

James Davis, Xing Chen

Abstract – Robotic navigation and interaction frequently require that the
shape and motion of external objects and events be ob-served. Many interesting
events occur at mixed scales. Subtle localized shape and motion often occurs
together with long range movements. One of the chief challenges in recovering
these events is to obtain high resolution imagery suitable for resolving small
details, while simultaneously increasing the working volume in which recovery is
possible. This paper proposes an architecture for mixed scale motion recovery.
Robust coverage of a large working volume is pro-vided by a wide area tracking
system. This system localizes in-teresting motions, and guides a separate
foveated system of pan-tilt cameras to observe the detailed event at high
resolution. We demonstrate two applications, foveated structured light scan-ning
and the capture of muscle deformation while walking. Both applications allow
subtle detailed recovery that would not be possible using existing single scale
systems.